Three years ago The Walking Dead enthralled viewers across the country, gathering 5.35 million viewers for its premiere. Over the years, the series’ audience has grown exponentially. Viewership for The Walking Dead is at an all-time high—season four brought in 16.11 million viewers for its season premiere—but let’s not forget that the series has been on shaky ground ever since its executive producer, Frank Darabont, who developed the series for AMC, left the show. He’s been reluctant to talk about his departure, until now.

A few weeks after The Walking Dead panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2011, the cable network announced that Darabont would no longer be the showrunner, and that he had stepped down from his duties. At the time, it was unclear why he left, but it was believed that it was due to disagreements with network executives about budgeting and scheduling. While The Walking Dead is AMC’s most popular show, the network is very savvy about keeping production costs low.

With the jaw-dropping news that J.J. Abrams would soon be holding the reigns of not one, but both of the biggest science fiction franchises of all time, most of the discussion has centered around what an Abrams-directed Star Wars film will look like. But what about Star Trek 3?

Realistically, if Abrams decides to only produce Trek 3, but not direct it, it’s likely that the gig will go to one of his collaborators: Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, or Roberto Orci. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the least interesting possible outcome. Like it or not, Abrams has set the status quo for Trek, at least for the immediate future. While another reboot can’t be considered impossible, a more likely scenario — and potentially a very good one — would be to bring in another strong creative vision who could build on Abrams’ foundation, shore up his weaknesses, and evolve Trek to the next level, whatever that may be. With that in mind, we’ve chosen seven directors we think could make Trek 3 amazing.

Engage…